July i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
35 
A Coffee King. — Mr. J. J, O'Donohue, the coffee 
king, appeared before the Assembly committee on 
Trades and Manufactures, Tuesday, (February 19th) 
in favor of the MeCarren bill to prevent gambling 
in coffee. Mr. O'Donohue said that he was the 
oldest coffee merchant in the city of New York. He 
had been in the business for forty-five years. He 
had broken every corner in coffee started in that 
time. Since 1882 the price of ooffee has almost 
doubled. He thinks that the gambling in futures 
has a great deal to do with the increase in price. 
After Mr. O'Donohue had delivered hi? argument 
the committee at once agreed to report the bill. — 
Merchants' Review, February 22nd, in Rio Newt. 
Indian Tea Notes. — Tea is daing well in Nowgong. 
Plucking is going on in Durrung. The weather has 
been stormy in Cachar. Weather hot and cloudy with 
high winds is the cews from Goalpara. Seasonable 
weather is reported from SyJhet, K imroop, Sibsaugor 
and Luckimpore. Ohittagong, 3rd May :— Chittagong 
has had fair rain during the week, but strong South 
winds have dried up some of the moisture. Charali, 
1st May :— Rainfall to date, 13 92 inches against 14 - 69 
inches last year. Gardens looking well, but more heat 
is wanted to bring on leaf. Cholera prevalent in 
several bustees, and oq some of the gardens there have 
been a few fatal cases among the coolies. 8th May. 
— Our Habigunge telegram states that ample rain has 
fallen and other conditions are favourable, but the 
outturns still bjhind last year. An occasional corres- 
pondent writes uuder date 7th May:— The storms 
have simply been appalliug. L^af-houses, lines, and 
even bungalows have been blown down and nearly all 
gardens in North Cachar have been cut to pieces by 
hail. Moolydir will not recommence manufacture for 
4 weeks, at least, Seebong for 6 weeks- The hail has 
been the worst I have seen in my 12 years' experi- 
ence and many older men confirm it. There were 
over 21 in. of rain during the past week. Dehra Dun, 
8th May. — Most gardens have stopped manufacturing 
and we shall not make any more tea till the rains. 
We have had a very good Spring crop. — Indian Planters' 
Gazette, May 14th. 
Tea Culture and Preparation. — The very inter- 
esting and practical discussion started by the 
questions circulated respecting the time at 
which the best tea is got in reference to 
the condition of the bushes, the effect of manures, 
and the best style of leaf-plucking, will be found 
continued — indeed we may say concluded — in our 
present issue. Some sixty-five well-known ex- 
perienced tea planters have responded, and good 
can only result from this interchange of opinion 
and experience. The originator of the ques- 
tions has also summed up the discussion and 
the general conclusion come to is that, while there 
is a good deal to learn yet with reference to certain 
departments of his work, the Ceylon tea-planter is 
well on the road if not to " perfection" at least to 
a high standard of working both in the field and 
factory, while his motto should be — as so well put 
by Messrs. Stenning, Inskipp & Co. — " Make good 
tea and as much of it as you can ; but let the quality 
be good." In this connection we call attention to 
the article and table on pages 41-2, bearing on 
the actual cost of tea for production, manufac- 
ture and charges in Ceylon under a variety of 
circumstances, on old coffee estates or virgin land 
as indicated by crops of from 250 to 500 lb. of 
made tea per acre. The lowest rate in our table 
is 29 J cents f. o. b., and the highest 40 cents ; 
but it is admitted that with a larger acreage 
than 250 aores — the standard taken for the table,— 
there could be a further saving, of one or two 
cents. We suppose 25 to 26 cents (4d per lb.) 
f. o. b., to be about the best attainable rate in 
Ceylon and that only in a few exertional cases. ' 
The Duty on Tea. — Mr. Pioton was very 
plucky to renew his motion for abolition ; but it 
has been clear, ever since the Naval Scheme ap- 
peared, that nothing could be done this year. 
"Better luck next time" — when perhaps there will 
be no cheap China stuff to take advantage of 
a lowered duty, or free tariff. 
Gum-yielding trees are thus referred by 
Mr. D. Morris of Kew, in a letter to the Madras 
Agri-Horticultural Society : — 
As regards seeds of Acacia Senegal, Willd., this 
species is said to be also a native of Scind, whence 
Stock obtained specimens in the Kew Herbarium. 
Hence it may be Indian as well as African. Acacia 
Verek is supposed to be the same or very similar 
plant, and it is this latter which is described by 
Schweinfurth as yielding the best white gum of 
commerce, iu fact gum arabic. We obtained after a 
good deal of trouble seeds of " true gum arabio " 
from Morocco in 1886, This was believed to be Acacia 
gvmmifera. Your Society had seeds of this species 
sent at the time, and no doubt you have plants raised 
from them. We shall endeavour to interest Dr. 
Schweinfurth in A. Senegal or what he calls 
A Verek, and if we are fortunate to receive seeds, 
we shall be happy to send them to you. The opinion 
as regards many gum-bearing plants is that although 
they may grow readily enough in another country, 
there is no certainty that they will yield gum on a 
commercial scale. This is not difficult to understand 
if we consider that trees for the most part exude 
gum as a pathological phenomenon and not as a 
normal condition of their growth. The nearer the soil 
and climate of a country approaches those of the 
native country of gum-bearing acacias, the greater 
hope, of course, will be that gum will be produced. 
But even if gum is produced, we have to remember 
that gum in Africa is a forest product to be had 
for the mere cost of collecting it in extensive self- 
sown Acacia forests. Unless the price of gum arabic 
rises, very much indeed it is hopeless to attempt to 
grow gum-bearing trees in India on a sufficiently 
large ecale to compete successfully with African 
produce. 
We add notice of a letter from Surgeon-General 
G. Bidie, m. b., c. i. e., &c„ dated Ootacamund, 
28th April 1888 :— 
Perhaps the subjoined extracts from a letter 
received by me from the Museum Department of the 
Pharmaceutical Society of London, may be of interest 
as well as use to the Sooiety. " Have any attempts 
been made to cultivate the Siam Benzoin which 
grows in the Laos states of Siam ? The seeds grow 
readily, and the balsamic resin of the tree is worth 
from £50 to £90 per cwt. ; the trees appear to be 
cut when about 6 inches iu diameter. Mr. Jamie had 
a tree in his garden at Singapore, of which I should 
think twigs could be made to grow. It had not 
flowered when I heard from him." And again "There 
is an opening in the market in London now for a 
good gum of the character of the gum arabic. The 
qualities necessary are, it should dissolve entirely, give 
an adhesive mucilage, should not turn dark when a 
few drops of solution of irom are added to it. If 
iron darkens it, it does not do for calico printing one 
of its chief uses. The fewer bubbles it makes when 
poured from one vessel to another, the higher its 
value." Surely some of our indigenous gums if care- 
fully extracted and dried, would answer these tests, 
and this is just one of those things in which a great 
deal of money might be made if any one would take 
the trouble to search and experiment. Might not the 
Superintendent of tho gardens be asked to sec what 
can be done in the matter and the results be oom- 
muuicated to the Press f»r the benefit of mercantile 
men, &c ?" Resolred, that Surgn-Genl. Bidie be 
thanked for his letter, and that enquiries be made 
on the important subjects referred to by him. It is 
believed that considerable informotion on this subject 
of the various Indian gums is already available in 
several Government papers. 
